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I decided to make the jump to airbrushing to speed things up and get some great shading. Bought an Iwata HP-CS and a Paasch compressor. After getting it all set up I am running into a completely frustrating problem.

I cannot get paint to come out for more than 2-3 seconds before my nozzle clogs. I pull back on the trigger and get a nice initial spray but within seconds it cuts off. I have to putt the trigger back further to get it to continue. Looking at the needle, it is covered in paint. I have tried a massive amount of combinations of paints, thinners and pressures and the same thing happens 100% of the time. Here's what I've tried.

- Vallejo model air (French Blue), unthinned.
- Vallejo model air (French Blue), thinned with Liquitex airbrush medium, ratios varying from 1:1 to 1:5, paint:thinner.
- Vallejo model air (French Blue), thinned with alcohol, same ratios as above.
- Mephiston red, thinned indepdendantly with water, Liquitex AB medium, alcohol in varying ratios from 1:1 to 1:5 paint:thinner.

The closest I have come to any kind of results is with huge amounts of alcohol to paint. I have disassembled and cleaned the brush thoroughly. I've tried pressures from 15-35 psi. But no matter what I do, the thing basically stops spraying in 2-3 seconds after I activate the trigger. If I take a brush/swab to the nozzle and swipe it out it resets itself, only to clog again in a few seconds.

I am at the end of my rope here. I cannot imagine what I am doing wrong. The needle is straight and unbent. I've tried thinning to absurd levels. The thing just insta-clogs every time.

What can I do here?

I haven't been airbrushing to long myself but i have heard that needle lube can help with clogging. Iwata makes one and badger makes one called regdab.
Otherwise maybe try some kind of drying retarder to stop the paint from drying so fast, i know liquitex has one. Lastly alcohol actually speeds the drying time of paint, evaporates faster, so not sure why its given you better results but generally i see people advise against it for general use.

Hope some of that helps

Hmm it does sound like a typical paint thickness issue but if you tried VMA with Liquitex 1:5 ratio that should be plenty thinned. One question, are you mixing in a separate cup, stirring, then loading/charging your airbrush or are you trying to mix right in the AB cup?

where in the states are you at?

Good point Redfinger... an airbrush can go where no aerosol-can can, but extreme weather may still affect your results.

I've been mixing directly in the AB cup.

Cowbellicus wrote:
I've been mixing directly in the AB cup.

And which are you pouring in first? The paint or the thinner? Because if it's the paint, then the paint is running onto the needle before you can thin it which is the cause of your problems. Assuming it's a gravity fed brush. Mix the paint with the thinner in a separate container and then add it to the airbrush.

I recently bought an airbrush and had the same problem no matter how much I thinned or how hot or cold it was. When I changed to the 0.5mm tip from 0.3mm it worked perfectly. After a bit of use it does tend need a clean before I can continue.

Cowbellicus wrote:
I've been mixing directly in the AB cup.

Ahh well don't do that lol. You should always mix in a separate cup, get the consistency just right, then charge the airbrush. Use clear cups, that way as you are learning you can better see what the right consistency, for you, looks like.

I also stole one of my girlfriend's nylons that I use as a filter, just to be doubly sure that no thick chunks get loaded into my airbrush. One nylon lasted me over a year.

Oh and smaller needles will demand greater care and more thinning. The larger needles are a lot easier to use and likely more appropriate for priming and basing type work but obviously not as useful for very fine detailed stuff.

 Asuryan wrote:
I recently bought an airbrush and had the same problem no matter how much I thinned or how hot or cold it was. When I changed to the 0.5mm tip from 0.3mm it worked perfectly. After a bit of use it does tend need a clean before I can continue.

Does the 0.5mm needle require a seperate nozzle (browsing Amazon this seems to be the case).

I'm pretty puzzled by the whole experience though. You see guys all kinds of guys on youtube just casually blazing away with pure consistent output. What I'm getting is barely what I would call a useable tool. Literally, pull trigger back say 2mm, spray comes out, 2 seconds later spray stops unless I pull the trigger back another 2mm. How can it be that a mere handful of seconds causes enough buildup on the needle to stop things? Why would my experience be so different, especially using something like Model Air?

Could I have a bogus/lemon of a needle?

Funnily enough I only got one needle and three nozzles... my mate has it at the moment but I will have to investigate further. Try getting a larger nozzle, I was a frustrated as you and tried different paints/solvents but it ended the same. I was able to spray solvent endlessly without it clogging but when I used paint (new and free or dried up bits) it just wouldn't work. The larger nozzle really did help, but I will have to see if I was not sent two needles for the other sizes.

Like the dakkaknights above said thin your paint in a separate cup to begin with.

Try using some kind of flow improver or drying retarder and kinda avoid alcohol or windex if you can. Alcohol and ammonia aren't friends with acrylic paints. Get paint to a milk consistency. Depending on how thick the paint is you might have to go to 10:1 ratio of thinner to paint or even more. (get some milk into a cap and see how it runs to the sides to get a good indication of what milk consistency is). Don't feel frustrated since it takes a lot of practice to find the right thinning proportions . I was there for a month or so

Cowbellicus wrote:
I decided to make the jump to airbrushing to speed things up and get some great shading. Bought an Iwata HP-CS and a Paasch compressor. After getting it all set up I am running into a completely frustrating problem.

I cannot get paint to come out for more than 2-3 seconds before my nozzle clogs. I pull back on the trigger and get a nice initial spray but within seconds it cuts off. I have to putt the trigger back further to get it to continue. Looking at the needle, it is covered in paint. I have tried a massive amount of combinations of paints, thinners and pressures and the same thing happens 100% of the time. Here's what I've tried.

- Vallejo model air (French Blue), unthinned.
- Vallejo model air (French Blue), thinned with Liquitex airbrush medium, ratios varying from 1:1 to 1:5, paint:thinner.
- Vallejo model air (French Blue), thinned with alcohol, same ratios as above.
- Mephiston red, thinned indepdendantly with water, Liquitex AB medium, alcohol in varying ratios from 1:1 to 1:5 paint:thinner.

The closest I have come to any kind of results is with huge amounts of alcohol to paint. I have disassembled and cleaned the brush thoroughly. I've tried pressures from 15-35 psi. But no matter what I do, the thing basically stops spraying in 2-3 seconds after I activate the trigger. If I take a brush/swab to the nozzle and swipe it out it resets itself, only to clog again in a few seconds.

I am at the end of my rope here. I cannot imagine what I am doing wrong. The needle is straight and unbent. I've tried thinning to absurd levels. The thing just insta-clogs every time.

What can I do here?

Welcome to airbrushing! Like any piece of technology, it's only wonderful when it works perfectly.

As others have mentioned thin in a measuring cup or shot glass first then pour into your airbrush.

Dropper bottles of paint, thinner etc are the way to go for precise mixing, measuring as well as limiting wastage.

I've never tried Liquitex, I currently use the vallejo airbrush thinner in a 2:1 ratio - that is TWICE as many drops of thinner than paint. I also add a single drop of of Slow-Dry and stir thoroughly.

If you're concerned about debris or clumps in the paint strain everything into the mixing cup using a nylon stocking - handy for acrylic metallics and older paints.

Good Luck!

I have the same airbrush by the way and I believe it's a 0.35mm needle; which really isn't too small, at least not small enough to cause wholesale problems. Airbrushing does have _steep_ learning curve but you might be having some freak issues. That AB comes with a little key to remove the nozzle and clean in there; make sure you've done that. http://www.airbrushguru.com/how-to-rinse-gravity-feed-airbrush-after-spray-session.html

Does it spray just thinner/cleaner just fine?

So I had a major breakthrough here. I was up till 4am last night trying everything under the sun to get Mephiston red to work. Frustration city.

This morning, just for kicks I tried Wazdakka red. To my ultimate surprise, it worked. It worked really well in fact. I had mixed it with slow-dry and AB medium. To verify I wasn't going insane, I tried it again with just AB medium in a much larger batch. Again, it worked. I was down there writing my name on paper, filling surfaces, etc.

But wtf says I? Did I dream yesterday? I tried Mephiston red again. Insta-fail. Then I noticed : Mephiston red is a Citadel "Base". Wazdakka red is a Citadel "Layer". Could that be the difference? I mixed up Calgar blue, warpstone glow, and ehrin grey seperately (all Layers). They all worked.

So this is my conclusion : citadel base paints are fundamentally incompatible with an airbrush unless you are the Airbrush Kwizatz Haderach (I'm looking at you, Buypainted). They certainly seem thicker to the eye. Maybe something about the pigment granularity or whatever is just no good.

In any case, yay. I appear to have a working solution here. I'll have to cover some holes in my palette where I only have Base (I think I'll try experiment with Vallejo model color. People seem to recommend that stuff). And I'll definitely try the Vallejo thinner if I can find it.

Has anyone ever worked with Createx airbrush paints? The Hobby Lobby near me has a huge pile of them.

Oh yes the base paints by GW are obviously intended for heavier coverage and thus will require a lot more thinning than the more transparent layer paints.

So it sounds like a thinning issue after-all; great that you had some resolution. Remember to mix in a separate cup as well.

I love Vallejo Model color and I typically use Liquitex AB medium with just about everything, though Vallejo thinner is nice also.

Createx paints will flow from your AB like butter but they are not very durable paints and not suitable for our purposes in my opinion. My first AB (the IWATA HP-CS) came in a bundle with these paints and I learned the hard way that this paint will just rub right off with the gentlest touch.

 Gunzhard wrote:
So it sounds like a thinning issue after-all; great that you had some resolution. Remember to mix in a separate cup as well.

I did this as well. Any tips on getting the max amount of paint from the cup into the brush? Seems like I lose at least 1/4 to 1/3 of the paint to just adhering to the cup. I tried using a really crappy eyedropper (all I had on hand) but it still left about the same amount. The eyedropper also leaves a lot of bubbles in the AB cup itself. Anecdotally it seems like some people may think this is an issue. Any truth to that?

Createx paints will flow from your AB like butter but they are not very durable paints and not suitable for our purposes in my opinion. My first AB (the IWATA HP-CS) came in a bundle with these paints and I learned the hard way that this paint will just rub right off with the gentlest touch.

Even after varnishing?

Hmm yeah I guess you lose some to the cup but the airbrush is typically not so greedy with paint anyway. I probably lose more because I filter it with a nylon. Never had an eyedropper/bubbles issue, not sure about that one.

As for the createx to be honest I never went back to them or got as far as varnishing. When I literally just handled the model to apply further details the paint was rubbing off and was driving me batty - so I stripped it and used miniature paints instead to a much more satisfying affect.